Actually, that's not entirely true. According to the recent book on the show's history, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, Sandrich had another directing commitment set up, as he was always free to do, and had the choice to either shoot this episode, or a later episode that season with Mary's Aunt Flo. Enjoying the…

I believe that the Twilight Zone and classic Doctor Who also do fine.

This thread has some answers to that question, including a useful link or two

Some of the other most acclaimed Mary episodes do work best if you're familiar with the show (I'd probably put "The Lars Affair" up there with Chuckles, but if you don't understand the character of Phyllis, its impact will probably be lost on you), but with "Chuckles Bites the Dust", the joke is arguably more…

I dunno, there are a lot of great comedies out there now, but I've always maintained that the ages have been kinder to comedic TV programs than to dramas, probably because standards for good drama programs tend to change over the years, but good comedy is timeless.

Yeah, I check out Ken's blog every couple of months or so. He has some great insight and anecdotes to share, but he tends to repeat a lot of them, which is what makes it a little hard to regularly check.

The MTM shows were notorious for doing poorly in syndication. WKRP was one of the few exceptions to that rule, which is funny since it was one of the longer-running series to have underperformed in its initial run.

Oh, it's definitely worth looking out for. The DVDs are easy to find for cheap and Hulu should have a lot of the episodes.

That's definitely a big part of it. Shows shot on film just tend to hold up moreso than those on tape or kinescope. That also explains the enduring appeal of Lucy and Cheers.

Oh, M*A*S*H would be another really good choice.

There is quite a lot in the show that's worthy of discussion.

From what I understand, the reason MTM wasn't a big hit in its original syndicated run is because around the time it ended, syndication was meant more for shows kids can come home to sit down and watch after school, and while there were plenty of children who watched Mary, they were not the show's main demographic,…

The plan is for The Wire to get its coverage in 2015, as the unofficial "end" of TVCC. So we have another year left.

Sadly, TVCC has decided to not touch anything before 1990, as most older shows tend to not get many readers.

Calling this the greatest sitcom episode of all time is truly an understatement.

I caught It Happened at the World's Fair on TCM a while ago during one of their fairly regular Elvis marathons, at random. It isn't a bad one. The King has some good songs, and I don't recall the Asian girl being racist in any way, which is enough to make it at least okay and worth a look for Elvis fans.

I thought most fans of the first Clerks liked II. It isn't nearly as good as the original, but I laughed a lot out of it.

I thought Smith did smoke with Mewes on and off previously, but only became a full pothead with Rogen

I dropped Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. just before the Thor 2 "crossover", but dammit, I'm a little curious to find out what happened to Coulson.

Eh, it's like Jenna Marbles says, if your bra and underwear match, you have your life together. If your bra and underwear match every day, then you have too much free time.